Byakko
by Insomnia Productions
Summary: It all starts when Naruto stumbles across a baby fox and its dead mother one afternoon. Strange things start to happen, interrupting the norm. As time passes, Naruto begins to realize that finding the dead fox wasn't just a coincidence..
1. Itokuzu

Some quick translations:  
itokuzu = fluff  
nanashi = no name  
byakko = white fox//spirit fox   
  
Anything else, like 'dobe' or 'bunshin no jutsu' or 'chûnin' or anything of the sort, I'm under the impression you already know. If you don't, though, you're more than welcome to contact me. Or us. We both should know.   
  
I came up with this after I finished writing Star Song. I was thinking about continuing it, started to write something, and ended up with this. Something completely different from Star Song.   
  
*   
As far as Naruto was concerned, curiosity didn't kill anything except maybe a couple of hours. It was around noontime and the blonde was crouched at the foot of a pond, trying to pet one of the koi that came too close to his hand. They always shied away right before his fingers could brush their shiny scales, though, so he always ended up having to start all over again.   
  
"Hey."   
  
Naruto started, scaring the fish away. He was concentrating so hard on trying to pet the elusive creatures that he didn't even notice Iruka walking up behind him. Embarrassed, he looked up.   
  
"Hey, Iruka-sensei," he greeted, smiling sheepishly. "What's up?"   
  
"If you catch me one of those fish, I'll buy you ramen.."   
  
The chûnin was cut off when Naruto, not bothering to shed any of his clothing, dove right into the water.   
  
"..for lunch." He laughed. "Oi, Naruto! I was kidding! Quit scaring the fish!"   
  
Naruto surfaced, a put upon look gracing his features. His spikes drooped a little, weighed down by the water.   
  
There was a squirming, rather pissed off looking fish in his hands.   
  
"Cute, Iruka-sensei, real cute," Naruto grumbled, preparing to toss the fish back into the waist deep water. It smacked him on the nose with its tail. Iruka chuckled again, crouching by the edge of the water. "Does this mean you're not going to be buying me any ramen?"   
  
"Nah. I'm low on cash right now."   
  
Iruka, despite all his skills, could not dodge the koi to his face. The poor, abused fish flailed a little before dropping back into the water and Iruka laughed good-naturedly, wiping the droplets from his eyes.   
  
"I guess I deserved that, ne? Come here, I was kidding. I'll buy you some ramen."   
  


Insomnia Productions presents..  
  
**Byakko**  
Chapter One: Itokuzu  
by Clara (one of the insomniacs)

  
  
An hour after his little encounter with Iruka and their stop to ramen shop, Naruto found himself sitting on his favorite swing. The school yard, of course, was empty, and by all means he shouldn't have been there either, but there wasn't much that could stop Naruto when he put his mind to something. As it was, he didn't want to be around the adults and their cynical stares, and therefore took refuge into the yard of the school.   
  
He could have been training, in fact, he _should_ have been training since there was going to be a mission the next day, but he couldn't quite bring himself to. The day was too lethargic—temperature just warm enough to make even the squirrels bouncing from branch to branch sluggish. This was the good time to go swimming in a nice, cool lake (though he had already had a taste of that), or taking a nap. He would just have to train harder and longer, later.   
  
He sighed happily, patting his full stomach. Yes, today was definitely a day for laziness. Work should be outlawed on days like these.   
  
A small whimper, though, interrupted his peace. He jerked in surprise, disrupting the precious balance he had on the swing and tumbling off, catching his legs on the plank. He yelped and quickly untangled himself, one hand going up to clutch his nose.   
  
"What the HELL was that?!"   
  
There was another whimper in response to his yell and Naruto looked around, eyes slitted in concentration. There was a puffy tail sticking out from behind the trunk of the tree his swing was tied to.   
  
"Ne?" Naruto pushed himself to his feet, slowly and silently walking over to the tree. Whatever was behind it didn't notice him and continued to whimper.   
  
Behind the tree was a baby fox, nudging an older, and what appeared to be dead, fox. The kit looked as if it would be pure white, if it wasn't for the blood matting its fur.   
  
"Oh, jeez," Naruto hissed, crouching beside the foxes. The live one started and immediately scampered away from him, disappearing as he reached over to check the larger fox for a pulse. Not to his surprise, he found none. But it was warm to his touch, meaning that it had been killed recently.   
  
The condition of the dead fox was awful. Whatever had gotten to it seemed to have been extremely brutal, what with all the wounds on the poor fox's body. What disturbed Naruto even more, though, was that the fox appeared to have been killed by a human.   
  
"You poor thing." With pained eyes, Naruto gently lifted up the body. Blood fell from the mouth of the fox in a steady stream, splashing onto the boy's clothing. He ignored it though, instead walking back to the entrance of the school and towards his home.   
  
He didn't notice the baby fox limping after him. He had thought it long gone.   
  
*   
  
Naruto buried the poor fox near the entrance of his house and left a sprig on top of the small mound. Unfortunately, he didn't know much about traditional burial techniques, so all he could do was wish that the fox had a safe journey to the afterlife. He even went so far to say a brief prayer for it.   
  
To his surprise, when he stood from his kneeled position, the baby fox that had been by the older fox was sitting behind him. It had its left foreleg lifted from the ground, as if it were too painful for it to put down.   
  
"Oi, fox. You followed me home, didn't you?"   
  
The fox stared at him with an expression he couldn't read. It didn't look angry or frightened.. it seemed as if the creature was studying him. He shifted uncomfortably. There was always something disturbingly intelligent about foxes.   
  
"Um.. are you hungry? Tired?" He took a wary step forward, but the fox hardly even blinked. "Hey! You're hurt! C'mere.."   
  
Gently, so as not to startle the kit, he picked it up. To his surprise it didn't protest in anyway and in fact pressed its head against Naruto's chest.   
  
"You're an awful trustworthy thing," Naruto said, smiling slightly. "Hey! I'll make you some ramen! Man, I don't know if you've had any ramen before or not, but it's my favorite!"   
  
As Naruto walked back into his house, cradling the baby fox, he could have sworn he heard a near silent, "thank you."   
  
*   
  
Sleep time was definitely the best time, Naruto decided, except when it was wake-up time. What woke him up, however, wasn't his internal clock. It was a light pressure on his chest, as if something small were placed on top of it. He groaned and opened his eyes, greeted by the small white fox sitting on top of him. He had bathed it last night, removing all the blood and dirt stains, and wrapped up all his wounds. This resulted in the little fox looking like a beat up koosh ball.   
  
He smiled at the fox.   
  
The fox smiled back.   
  
..   
  
"..I'm hungry, Mister."   
  
"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"   
  
Now, waking up to a talking fox was not something that happened every day for Naruto. Hell, he had _never_ met a fox who could talk until this point. So, of course, he was a little bit surprised. Okay, he was so surprised he was practically climbing up the wall. The fox, graceful as it was, looked as if it were never moved from Naruto's chest and was sitting on top of his bed as if it were there in the first place.   
  
"Wh.. what the HELL?!"   
  
"I said, I'm hungry, Mister," the fox repeated, cocking its head to the side. "And, since I'm not capable of using your human appliances, I was wondering if you would be so kind to make me a meal."   
  
Naruto just stared at the fox as if it had grown an extra head. There it was, sitting on top of his blanket, and chatting away as if it were the most natural thing in the world.   
  
"This.. this must be a dream," Naruto stammered unconvincingly. "M.. maybe if I pinch myself.." He tried. "OW!"   
  
The fox bowed its head slightly, looking as amused as a fox could. "You're not asleep, Mister.."   
  
Naruto stared for a long time. Of course, he should have asked other questions, such as 'can all foxes talk?' or something of the sort, but the only thing that came to his mind was..   
  
"I gotta show you to Sasuke!"   
  
"But I'm hungry!" The sentence was ignored as Naruto charged out of his house, not bothering to change from his pajamas or put on his shoes. The fox squirmed uncomfortably in his arms, then yelped and dug his claws into the boy's shirt. He decided to take a shortcut by rooftop.   
  
"Hey! Foxes aren't _meant_ to be this high!" the fox cried, then tucked its face against Naruto's neck. Naruto ignored it, leaping soundlessly against the roof that was next to Sasuke's bedroom window. He pounded on it with his free hand, the other one still supporting the fox.   
  
"OI! SASUKE! WAKE UP!"   
  
The dark haired genin indeed woke up, but only to open his window and smack Naruto in the nose with a flying shoe. Then he shut his window again. Naruto, off balance, nearly toppled off the roof. However, Sasuke seemed to have had a change of heart and opened the window again, grabbing the blonde's hand and dragging him inside his room. The dark haired boy glared with all the animosity he could muster up at three in the morning, which was a rather lot.   
  
"Dobe," Sasuke growled, reaching up to scrub one of his eyes with his fist, "what the HELL are you doing here?"   
  
"You hit me on my nose!" Naruto yowled, holding his offended appendage with his free hand.   
  
"This is what happens when you come pounding on people's windows when they're fast asleep," Sasuke grumbled. "Now, what the fuck is so important that you had to wake me up for?"   
  
"THIS!" Naruto cried, triumphantly brandishing the fox at Sasuke.   
  
"..Let me get this straight," Sasuke said, closing his eyes and reaching up to put his chin in his hand. "You.. woke me up.. at three in the bloody morning.. to show me a _fox_?!"   
  
"Not just any fox!" Naruto continued, undaunted. "This is a TALKING fox!"   
  
. . .   
  
"Naruto.."   
  
"Nono, wait! Hear me out! Or rather, hear it out!" Naruto said quickly. He would be flapping his arms, if they were free. "Come on, fox, say something!"   
  
"..I'm hungry."   
  
"I'll feed you later!" Naruto grumbled.   
  
"How come you're speaking all funny-like?"   
  
Before Naruto could puzzle over that comment he noticed Sasuke staring at him, mouth opening and closing like a deranged fish.   
  
"Sasuke?"   
  
"N-Naruto? Can you understand the fox?"   
  
"Duh, stupid, why ELSE would you think I'd come running into your room this bloody early in the morning to show you a fox?" Truthfully, the blonde was feeling faintly uneasy. In all the years he had known Sasuke, never once had he heard the other boy stutter.   
  
"You're not just doing this to play a joke on me, right?"   
  
"No! He really CAN talk! Didn't you hear him?"   
  
"Naruto.." Sasuke turned around, taking a deep breath. He walked back over to his bed and sat heavily down on it, looking at his feet for a long moment before he glanced back up at Naruto. His eyes were unreadable.   
  
"Naruto, I can't understand it."   
  
"..what? What's there to understand? I mean.."   
  
"No," he cut the other boy off, and briefly a pained expression flit across his face. He knew Naruto wasn't going to take this well. "I can't understand the fox. To me, it sounds like it's yipping. And when you answer it back.." He opened his eyes again, needing to see Naruto's face. Understanding was slowing begin to seep on Naruto's features.   
  
"..you're yipping too."   
  
There was a long silence, then Naruto sat down hard. It was as if his legs just collapsed out from underneath him. They stared at each other for a long time, blue colliding with black like a freight train.   
  
"It's because I'm the.."   
  
Sasuke nodded slightly and looked at the fox. It was looking up at Naruto worriedly.   
  
What puzzled Sasuke was that he believed Naruto. Perhaps it was because he had known the boy long enough to know when he was lying or not, or perhaps it was because Naruto read like an open book, but Sasuke knew that Naruto really did understand the fox. Call it a gut feeling.   
  
Naruto closed his eyes, taking a deep, hitched breath. It almost sounded as if he were going to start crying. Sasuke's heart clenched and he slid off the bed, crouching by the other boy.   
  
"Oi, Naruto.."   
  
Naruto's eyes opened and he smiled at Sasuke. It was the kind of smile he always got when he was confident over something, or trying to look confident. The darker haired boy grimaced, though. He was growing to hate that smile.   
  
"Let's just keep this between you and me, ne, Sasuke?"   
  
Sasuke slowly nodded, then reached over and scratched the top of the fox's head. It cooed at him, leaning against his fingers.   
  
_I promise, Naruto, no matter what happens, I will never look at you the way the other people look at you._   
  
Naruto's attention was brought back to the fox, and he smiled fondly. "So, what do you think I should name him?"   
  
Sasuke looked down at the fox, then smirked a little. "Poofball."   
  
Naruto snorted and socked Sasuke's knee. "Don't be stupid. And he's too cute for that. Think of something else."   
  
"Why'm I the one who has to think of it? Besides, what if it already has a name?"   
  
"..shut up." Looking faintly embarrassed, Naruto looked back down at the fox. "Hey. Do you have a name?"   
  
"No. Mama died before she could properly name me."   
  
Naruto winced, then looked at Sasuke. "It doesn't have a name."   
  
"No name. Name it.. Nanashi."   
  
The blonde nodded, then smiled down at the fox. "Oi. How does 'Nanashi' sound?"   
  
"It works," the fox responded quietly, tucking its head against the crook of his arm.   
  
"Wait, one more thing."   
  
"Yes?"   
  
"Are you a boy or a girl?"   
  
"I'M A BOY, DAMNIT!" Offended, the fox bit where he had been previously resting his head. "Can't you tell?!"   
  
"OW!"   
  
"Naruto! What did you say to him?"   
  
"You knew it was a guy?!"   
  
"Can't you tell by his features?"   
  
"HE LOOKS LIKE A BIG FLUFF BALL TO ME—! OW! STOP BITING!"   
  
And the night went on.   
  
*   
  
"Oi."   
  
Ino jumped, scattering the some of the salted peanuts she had been eating all over the ground. She looked up and glared dangerously at Shikamaru who, of course, took a half step back. He knew his partner's temper better than anyone, since he was always the one to get on the wrong side of it.   
  
"What do you want?"   
  
"Ehhhh.." Shikamaru looked at her out of the corner of his eye, pulling a face. "I just wanted to see if you wanted some company, but if you're going to be so pissy.."   
  
"Oh, cut the dramatics and just sit down," Ino grumbled. She, truth be told, wasn't up for arguing with him today. There was too much on her mind.   
  
"Have you seen Naruto lately?"   
  
Like Naruto, for example. It seemed as if the 'dobe' was going from the most unpopular to the most popular. He was actually starting to make a name for himself.   
  
"No. Why?"   
  
"Well, it could be just a rumor, but I hear he's bein' followed around by a fox," Shikamaru drawled. "It's got the adults all in an uproar."   
  
"Everything having to do with Naruto gets the adults in an uproar," Ino grumbled, picking at the nuts until she found the saltiest one. She didn't know why she was eating them, since peanuts were fattening and, well, there was SALT on them, but she had to let herself have some guilty pleasures sometimes. She threw one that had no salt on it away from her, and was more than a little surprised when what appeared to be a ball of white fur went tumbling after it. It pounced the nut, then munched it loudly and cheerfully.   
  
"Eh?" Ino watched the puffball come closer, stopping every so often to crunch on Ino's lost snack. "Ah! It's so cute!"   
  
"Nanashi! Get back here!"   
  
Ino and Shikamaru looked up from the creature, not surprised to see Naruto bounding towards them. Or, more precisely, the little thing eating the peanuts.   
  
"Oi! Itokuzu!" Naruto growled, pouncing it. He lifted the poor thing up, and from that angle the two sitting on the step got to see that the puffball was actually just a tiny fox. Naruto snarled at the baby, almost sounding like a fox himself. The fox snarled back, squirming towards the nuts he had missed.   
  
Shikamaru and Ino blinked, staring with faint bemusement as Naruto stomped away (not bothering to greet them, how terribly rude), still growling at the pint-sized critter.   
  
"Ne.. Naruto is.." Shikamaru started, still watching the blonde clomp away.   
  
"..weird?" Ino finished, lifting both her perfect eyebrows.   
  
Both nodded sagely.   
  
"Hey. Wanna get some tea?" Shikamaru asked, the thoughts of Naruto blowing away with the gust of refreshing wind.   
  
Ino looked down at her now empty hands, thirst making her mouth dry and throat itchy. "Are you paying?" Despite her lofty tone, she knew she would end up going with him even if he said he wasn't. It was hot and she had just consumed a whole lot of salt.   
  
"Why not. My treat."   
  
Ino pushed herself to her feet, smiling broadly. "Do you even need to ask?"   
  
"With you, yeah. You're unpredictable."   
  
"Part of my charm. But you're paying, so I guess I'll go with you. Don't think this is going to become an every day experience, though."   
  
"I'll try not to get too broken hearted."   
  
Naruto forgotten, they walked towards the teashop, keeping a distance between each other that was not too close but close enough to let the other know that, hey, they were acknowledged. The entire way to the teashop was filled with barbs and banter and was extremely, extremely relaxed.   
  
It was just one of those days.   
  
*   
  
"Stupid. I have a mission today. I don't wanna be late."   
  
Nanashi was snuggled up against Naruto's chest, munching noisily on the last peanut he had managed to snag. "I thought you said Kakashi-sensei was always late!"   
  
"..Maybe, but I don't want to take any chances. Now, be quiet."   
  
"You're so meeeean," Nanashi whined. "And what did you call me, earlier?"   
  
"Itokuzu."   
  
"What's that mean?"   
  
"Fluff. You talk too much."   
  
"Fluff? Fluff?! I am NOT a fluff!"   
  
"Yes you are, and you're a talkative one, too," Naruto grumbled. Talkative, how ironic. Just yesterday he hadn't even known that foxes could talk in the first place! Or, rather, that he could _understand_ them..   
  
"Dobe."   
  
Naruto's eye twitched, and his grip on the baby fox tightened quite a bit. Nanashi hissed in annoyance.   
  
"..Itokuzu."   
  
"Dobe!"   
  
"ITOKUZU!"   
  
"DOBE!"   
  
Sasuke sighed, watching as Naruto barked at the kit and got barked back at. Discretion, thy name is most definitely NOT Naruto. He shook his head and jogged up to the other boy.   
  
"Oi, dobe.."   
  
"DON'T CALL ME DOBE!"   
  
Sasuke took a step back in surprise. Naruto had reeled on him, eyes on fire and teeth bared. The boy usually had a violent reaction to being called dobe, yes, but this was ridiculous. He raised an eyebrow. The best way to deal with these situations was to pretend like they didn't happen.   
  
"You know, I could hear you shouting at that fox from a block away. Or rather, barking at it."   
  
Immediately, all the anger drained from Naruto's face, replaced with faint embarrassment. He dropped his eyes back down to the fox. "Did.. um.. did anyone else hear?"   
  
"Not that I know of. But I wouldn't recommend barking at him like that again." He fell into step with Naruto, peering at the small fox in his arms. "Hey there, fluff." He reached over to scratch it's ears, and was more than a little surprised when the fox bit him. "OW!"   
  
Naruto laughed.   
  
"He BIT me!"   
  
And this, right there, started the mini war between Sasuke and Nanashi.   
  
*   
  
Several miles away, where Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura would find themselves in a couple of hours, a man clad in a black robe crouched in a clearing. He had a large sack tied to his side, and after a few moments of examining the clearing with shrewd eyes, the man pulled out something furry and dumped it on the ground.   
  
After one more quick look around, the man was gone.   
.:end chapter one:.   
a/n: This is the first time I have ever written anything with Shikamaru and Ino in it. I don't know much about the two, nor do I know much about their relationship, since I'm still working on downloading all the episodes I can. If I portrayed them wrong, you're more than welcome to leave a note in a review telling me that I'm a failure. =\   
  
Also, I'm terrified that I might have made the characters really OOC. Um. You know. *hides* 


	2. Tamiko

A/N: Sorry it took me so long to put out this chapter, but I was in Germany for quite a bit. Anyway, this story is dedicated to the Amraphel, who not only proofread this chapter for me (and will most likely continue proofreading this story), but also sent me several of the scanned manga burned onto a disk (because it would have taken me YEARS to DL it) AND is an over all amazing person. She's an excellent writer and an awesome artist, and really she deserves way more than this story but this is all I can think to give her right now.   
  
Anyway, some words to know:  
Byakko: white//spirit fox  
Dobe: 'Dirt', or 'dead last'.  
Kage Bunshin no Jutsu: Cloning jutsu  
Katon Ryuuka no Jutsu: Fire jutsu  
  
..Ruddy HTMLing disabilities.. *grumbles* Okay, let's try that again. *determined*  
  


**Byakko**  
Chapter Two: Tamiko  
By Clara, one of the insomniacs  
  


Naruto had that funny feeling where all the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. He was trailing after his three comrades, dragging his feet and looking around with a sharp eye. There was something strange in the air; he could taste it.   
  
There mission was a simple one. All they needed to do was find some old hermit who lived somewhere in the middle of the forest and ask for some ore. The only problem was that they didn't know exactly where the hermit lived.   
  
"Naruto!" Sakura called. The pink haired girl had pretty much adopted Nanashi as her own and was currently holding the white fox snuggly in her arms. Both her and Kakashi had bought the story about Naruto finding Nanashi at his door that morning and didn't press it, but he had a feeling at least Kakashi did not believe him. "Hurry up!"   
  
"Yeah, all right," Naruto mumbled, but hardly hastened his step. He had just figured out one of the reasons why he felt so odd.   
  
The entire forest was silent.   
  
He knew Sasuke and Kakashi were already aware by the way they were looking around tensely, and Sakura seemed to be starting to notice the heavy silence. She was slowly edging closer to Sasuke.   
  
"Ka.. Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura finally ventured. Her voice was trembling.   
  
"Shh."   
  
It was Naruto who ordered her to be quiet. He had stopped walking and was standing perfectly still with his head cocked to the side. The others followed his suit, turning to watch the blonde boy expectantly.   
  
"There's two of them," he finally muttered, eyes scanning the trees. Sasuke frowned.   
  
"How can you tell?"   
  
One of Naruto's hands crept down and flattened against his bellybutton. He smirked. "Call it 'gut instinct'."   
  
"Two.. two of what?" Sakura asked. She was standing next to Sasuke and had a kunai in her hand. She looked frightened, but at the same time determined.   
  
There was a rustling in the bushes somewhere to their left right before something tall and extremely not human stepped out. It stood on all fours and had feet that resembled lizards', but with claws that were easily as long as Naruto's forearm. It was a pale blue and had a long, slender snout and long pointed ears, and was examining them through slanted eyes. It had a long tail that curved around its back left leg, resting on the ground.   
  
"Two demons, I suppose," the creature said. It had a lilting, musical voice that reminded Naruto of a story he once heard a long time ago about a Lorelei. It was said that the beautiful woman would lure boats into jagged rocks with her lovely voice, and the creature spoke as Naruto would imagine the Lorelei would.   
  
"Though 'demons' is such a derogatory word," another said, tone just as entrancing if a beat lower. "I prefer 'physically advanced'." The second stepped out from the bushes and stood by its companion, looking much like the first but larger and with sharper features.   
  
"Quite true, quite true," the first agreed, nodding its large head. It turned to examine Kakashi thoughtfully. "Though humans are becoming right surprising these days. You _did_ hear about how that one human trapped Ichiro all those years ago in a _mortal_ body, didn't you?"   
  
"Yes, yes! I was quite surprised. Really, humans are so silly. What is a hundred years or so to a kitsune?"   
  
Naruto grimaced, curling his fingers against his stomach.   
  
"Jeez," he finally said, drawing the attention of the two demons to him. "Who are you, Tweedledee and Tweedledum?"   
  
The two demons looked appropriately put out.   
  
"Well!"   
  
"Humans are _so_ rude these days." The second demon shook its large head. "Really, what ever happened to fear?"   
  
"They didn't even ask us for our names!" the smaller one said, and pouted.   
  
"We'll just have to introduce ourselves, will we not?"   
  
"We will."   
  
"You humans may call me Hoshirou."   
  
"And me, Hojirou."   
  
Naruto stared at them in disbelief, then turned to look at Kakashi for guidance. The silver haired man, however, looked just as incredulous as Naruto himself.   
  
"Um, yes, well, hello Hoshirou, Hojirou," Sakura finally said, bowing politely to each in turn. She had put away her kunai, as it was utterly ridiculous to try and have a civil conversation with a demon while holding a weapon. Actually, it was utterly ridiculous to try and have a civil conversation with a demon _period_. Their attentions are extremely hard to keep and you had to be outrageously polite to them the entire time, or be eaten. "We're extremely sorry for not greeting you properly earlier, but we were quite surprised. I am Sakura, and these are my teammates Sasuke and Naruto, and my teacher Kakashi-sensei. We're pleased to meet you."   
  
Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi turned their disbelieving looks to her, but she ignored them. The demons looked delighted at Sakura's greeting and rumbled with pleasure.   
  
"Splendid. We are equally pleased to meet you, Sakura-chan, Naruto-chan, Sasuke-chan, and Kakashi-sensei," Hojirou said.   
  
Naruto and Sasuke made awful faces at the endings placed on their names, but otherwise didn't say anything. Kakashi just smiled through his eyes.   
  
"Yes," Sakura continued, her voice becoming a bit sturdier. "We were just on our way to the old hermit's house. Um, is there any reason why you, well, approached us?"   
  
"Why, to kill you of course!" Hoshirou said pleasantly, as if they should have already known that and were silly for not. Hojirou nodded and smiled while the humans tensed immediately. "Oh, do relax. From what I hear death is much more painful if you're all tense like so."   
  
"I would believe that death is hardly pleasant in no matter what form it comes in," Sakura said, a bit more sharply than normal. The tremor in her voice was back and there was a thin layer of set resting on her brow. "Why do you want to kill us?"   
  
The demons looked shocked, and Hoshirou shook its head. "Heaven forbid that we would actually _want_ to kill you. Oh no, we were simply asked to."   
  
"Ordered, more likely," Hojirou snorted, looking faintly annoyed.   
  
"What were the, ah, terms?" Sakura asked. She knew she was losing this battle, since demons hardly ever went back on their words.   
  
"They let us into the mortal world, of course. A favor for a favor," Hojirou said.   
  
"It's unfortunate, though, since you are quite a grand group," Hoshirou added, and indeed the large demon did look a bit sad.   
  
"Well, we will just have to find other humans to converse with," Hojirou sighed. "How dreadful."   
  
"All right, enough chit-chat. Who would like to be killed first?"   
  
"You have GOT to be kidding me," Naruto said, slowly shaking his head. He didn't know much about demons (except for the fact that he had one in him), but this was _hardly_ what he expected.   
  
"Oh, you do then?" Hoshirou asked, turning to look at Naruto. "Well, okay. You were the rudest, anyway.   
  
"Eh?" Before he could get anything out that was more intelligent, a big, ball of something gooey and sulfuric smelling caught him square on the chest, knocking him from his feet and too the ground. "Ugh. What the hell is this shit?" He tried to raise his arm and was quite surprised when he was only able to get it a couple of inches from the ground.   
  
"The harder you struggle.." Hoshirou said, smirking, "..the harder it will become to get out of it."   
  
Naruto grunted, half in disgust and half in an effort to get out of the goo that was trapping him. He saw Kakashi and Sasuke each leap towards different demons. Sakura was hurrying towards him with a kunai in one hand and Nanashi in the other.   
  
"Ugh." A shadow flew over their heads, and Naruto tilted his head back just in time to see Sasuke fly into a tree so hard that several pine cones fell on the ground. He was back on his feet in an instant, lunging at the demons with hellfire in his eyes. When Naruto turned a certain way, he could see Kakashi and Hojirou locked in combat—Kakashi constantly trying to do the hand movements for his jutsu but being interrupted by counter attacks before he could even get past the first motion. Hoshirou had a deep gash across his chest but was healing rapidly, much like Naruto did whenever he was actually fighting.   
  
Frustrated, the blonde let out a burst of chakra. The gunk sizzled slightly, sending up an acrid smell of burning rotten eggs, but not doing much else. He gagged and surged forward, straining with all his strength against the goo.   
  
"Give up!" Hoshirou growled, momentarily distracted from Sasuke by Naruto. He sent another ball of goo flying towards Naruto's head, but it was intercepted by a powerful, chakra protected kick by Sasuke. The trajectory shifted and the ball slammed into Hojirou's chest. The larger demon let out a surprised growl and slammed into a nearby tree, effectively trapped.   
  
"Hojirou!" Hoshirou shouted, and Hojirou growled in response, breathing fire against the gook. It melted off him and slithered to the ground in a slimy mess.   
  
"Ah ha!" Sasuke cried in triumph, spinning back towards Naruto. The blonde paused in his struggles, mostly because he was surprised by Sasuke's eyes. They had already changed into the sharingans. He watched dumbly as Sasuke, facing him, began the rapid hand motions of a jutsu.   
  
"Sasuke! What are you doing?!" Sakura cried. She looked as if she was going to dive between Naruto and Sasuke, but confusion was stopping her.   
  
"Katon Ryuuka no Jutsu!" Sasuke cried, and blew out a stream of fire at the gunk entrapping Naruto. There was a loud sizzle and the goo melted off, leaving a relatively clean and free Naruto. The blonde blinked, surprise immobilizing him for a moment.   
  
"Hey! Thanks, Sasuke!"   
  
Sasuke just smirked. "I always have to save your ass, dobe."   
  
Naruto let that slide, but was grinning with satisfaction. "Woah!" he yelped, dodging another ball of gunk that flew towards him. "Ech, you jerks. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"   
  
Seven Naruto's popped into existence and flew towards Hoshirou, each flinging several kunai at once. The demon howled in anger and surprise, spinning and catching one of the Naruto's in the chest with its tail. The Naruto cried out in surprise and looked down in horror at the slash-mark that the tail left. It was as if someone had hit him with a large sword, slicing him diagonal across the chest. If he had been an inch closer, it would have surely sliced him in half.   
  
Sasuke was already on top of the demon, chidori causing sparks of electricity to dance around his hand. Two of the Naruto's had whipped out razor sharp rope and were holding Hoshirou against a tree.   
  
Sasuke punched. The demon howled and the tree snapped in half.   
  
Silence fell over the forest once again, interrupted only by a twig snapping. The Naruto copies popped out of existence, leaving one battered, smelly shinobi to lean against the stump of the tree. He turned to glance at Sasuke, then both boys spun around to see what happened to Kakashi and Sakura.   
  
Hojirou was lying on its side, not moving, with a haggard Kakashi crouched beside it. Sakura was quietly and determinedly bandaging the demon's wounds.   
  
"Sakura!" Naruto cried, then grimaced and reached up to place his hand over the wound on his chest. He coughed, then looked with distaste at the blood that flew from his lips. It was odd, really. He wasn't healing as quickly as he normally did.   
  
Kakashi straightened up, then turned around and walked to Naruto. There was a frown line between his eyes; the hitai-ate headband pushed up to reveal his sharingan.   
  
"It seems as if they have a poison layering their skin," Kakashi said, staring thoughtfully at the wound that crossed Naruto's body. In fact, they were all staring at him now. Nanashi's eyes were huge—he couldn't understand Kakashi, but could easily guess that there was something wrong. "It's a low level poison, granted, and would hardly kill someone in small amounts, but.."   
  
Naruto sucked in a breath. "So, what's gonna happen?"   
  
"Oh, well, I suspect you're going to be violently sick for a bit, with a bad fever and whatnot, and unable to move for a couple of days," Kakashi said cheerfully, already pulling out a bandage from his backpack. Naruto stared and slowly pulled off his jacket and shirt, allowing Kakashi to tape him up. "That is, of course, if you were normal. It will probably just take longer to heal and whatnot—I'm not entirely sure since I have never come across a poison like this. But bleeding is out of the question, so you'll just have to deal with the poison until we can get you to a proper healer."   
  
"Which will be _after_ the mission is completely," Naruto said determinedly. Kakashi gave him a thoughtful look.   
  
"Of course. The ore is important, but we're going to have to complete this mission quickly. Not only because of your wounds, but those demons.."   
  
"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura interrupted, causing both the teacher and student to look towards her in surprise. She and Sasuke were a little further off and standing at the foot of a tree. Kakashi and Naruto hurried towards her, surprised at her horrified tone of voice.   
  
"What is it, Sakura-cha.." The words died from Naruto's throat and his legs collapsed from underneath him. His eyes widened and face paled.   
  
A dead fox was sprawled out against the trunk of the tree, several needles sticking out of the small body. Nanashi was crouched by its side, whimpering and nudging it with his nose.   
  
"Wh.. what's going on?" Naruto asked. He found with surprise that he was trembling slightly. Kakashi reached forward and touched the fox, lifting up its head then frowning and shutting its sightless eyes. "This.. the second one.."   
  
Kakashi frowned and turned towards Naruto. "I think you had better tell us the entire story."   
  
So Naruto did, starting from when he was at the school to when he woke Sasuke up to tell him Nanashi could talk. They watched him in silence, their faces unreadable.   
  
"You ought to have told us earlier, Naruto," Kakashi admonished when the boy finished his story. Naruto bowed his head in embarrassment, cheeks coloring slightly. "But I can see why you didn't and why you want to keep it a secret. However, it's obvious that these threats are directed at you, and we have reason to believe that this same someone who is leaving these threats can also summon demons."   
  
"Well, it's not as if I knew he could summon demons before," Naruto snapped. "And how was I supposed to know it was a threat? We can't even be sure of that right now. For all we know, it's a coincidence!"   
  
"It was done by the same person who killed my mom," Nanashi said quietly. He was lying beside Naruto's feet, head resting between his paws. "I can smell him."   
  
Naruto grimaced and crouched down, picking the small fox up. "Okay, so maybe it wasn't a coincidence. But I didn't know at the time!"   
  
"Quit being so defensive, dobe," Sasuke said, the only one who didn't look mildly surprised at the blonde yipping at Nanashi. "Kakashi's just saying that you're in danger."   
  
"And that doing missions like these puts you into even more danger," Kakashi continued. He was digging a shallow grave with his kunai. "Not only you, but your teammates as well."   
  
"Well, what am I supposed to do? Sit around at home and wait for them to come to me? Yeah, right. Konoha has too much to worry about already."   
  
Kakashi sighed and gently lifted the fox's body and put it in the grave. Sakura had plucked out all the needles and was watching with morose green eyes.   
  
"Well, it's obvious something is going to have to be done about this," Kakashi said, pushing the soil over the fox's body. "Someone who can open gates between the two worlds is definitely not a small matter."   
  
"So, what are we going to do, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked. She was looking at the two demons they had knocked out.   
  
"Right now? We're going to go to the hag's house. Then we're going straight back home. We were lucky that the demons didn't seem too eager to kill us."   
  
"Eh?" Naruto asked, looking surprised. Immediately, he spun around.   
  
"Sure. Those are second class demons. It would have taken us _much_ longer to defeat them if they were _really_ trying."   
  
Naruto swallowed thickly. Somehow, that didn't pacify him.   
  
*   
  
An hour later they were standing at the door of what could have been called a shack. Or a hut, depending on whichever was 'politically correct'. Not that Naruto cared what was politically correct or not.   
  
"So," Naruto said, eyeing the door with many misgivings. "Who's going to knock on it?"   
  
"_Can_ you knock on it?" Sakura asked. "It looks like if someone just _touched_ it, it would collapse."   
  
Kakashi sighed and ignored his pupils, walking up to the said shabby door and gently knocking on it. While they waited for someone to answer, they looked around.   
  
It looked like a junkyard, really, with a small shack smack dab in the middle. There were broken down motors and other such useless pieces littering the bare area, most of them with weeds or flowers growing out of the open spaces. The home itself looked as if it was standing on its last legs, and Naruto was half afraid that it would fall over at the next gust of wind. What he really couldn't understand was how it was standing _period_ since it looked a good two and a half stories tall. In fact, the bottom of the 'shack' had already sunk a good half inch into the soil. Naruto shook his head.   
  
"What I can't understand," Sasuke began, peering into a bucket of rain water. He hastily took a step back when a frog leapt at his face and scrunched his nose, "..is why we didn't ask those bumbling demons who had sent them."   
  
"I doubt they would have given us a straight answer," Sakura said, poking at a large spider web with a pole she had found. "They probably would have trailed off into something about how humans were 'so helpless that they needed the continuous aid of demons'." She did such a dead-on impersonation of Hoshirou that Nanashi actually paused from examining an old tire to look around warily.   
  
"Well, we should have given it a try, anywa.." Sasuke was interrupted when the door to the shack was slammed open. A pot came flying from somewhere inside and conked an extremely surprised looking Naruto on the nose.   
  
"OW!" Naruto yelped, reaching up to clutch his offended facial feature. "What the hell was _that_ for?!"   
  
"Get off my property, you trespassers!" a witchy voice shrieked, and a chair came flying after the pot. Naruto managed to duck this time. "OUT! OUT!"   
  
"Ah, yes," Kakashi said, looking faintly put upon. "This is definitely the right place. Obaa-sama! Would you please allow us into your humble home? We come bearing gifts of fine wine an.."   
  
"Take your gifts and wine and shove it up your.." Something muffled her voice, cutting her off before she could finish what had promised to be a perfectly derogatory sentence. Kakashi sighed.   
  
"We also have top of the market gardening tools and the best seeds for harvesting. Will you _please_ let us in, Obaa-sama?"   
  
There was a beat of silence, broken only by the cheerful calls from the birds overhead.   
  
"Fine. Wipe your feet when you come in."   
  
The four looked at each other, then formed a single file to resolutely walk in and scrub the feet on a welcome carpet that seemed dirtier than their shoes. The inside was surprisingly cozy, with a ragged, moth eaten and extremely comfortable looking green couch standing (with a couple of books for one leg) in the middle of the living area that had a connecting kitchen. A woman that looked older than dirt was sitting at the table in the kitchen, scowling at them in such a way that gave her wrinkles wrinkles.   
  
"What do you want?" she rasped out. The rustiness in her voice gave Naruto the impression that she was quite the smoker.   
  
"Ore," Kakashi replied, not bothering with any pleasantries.   
  
"Hm. Is this why your brought the kyubi and two other brats with you? For _ore_?"   
  
Naruto grimaced. Although he had told his teammates long ago about his, well, 'companion' (in which they just looked mildly surprised before nodding in acknowledgement), he didn't enjoy hearing about it.   
  
"Actually, they came along for the ride. Finding your place isn't exactly what one might call easy, you know," Kakashi said blandly.   
  
"Hmm. Well, show me your gifts."   
  
The next few moments were occupied with the two discussing (rather, arguing) prices for the ore and Naruto poking around the small living area. Truthfully, he was feeling disturbingly dizzy and tired, and the cut on his chest was burning something terrible. He sat down carefully on the old couch and was pleased to find that it was as comfortable as he thought it would be. Nanashi hopped onto his lap and curled up into a little ball of white fluff.   
  
Sasuke sat beside him, tilting his head in such a way that he could see the other boy's chest. Naruto had put on the remainder of his shirt, although it did hardly anything since it was nearly sliced in half. It was regrettable, really, since it had been his favorite shirt. Hm. He wondered briefly if he could con a new one from Iruka for an early birthday present.   
  
"Oi. Dobe. How's your chest?" Sasuke asked, half surprising Naruto. He had almost forgotten that the taller genin had sat beside him.   
  
"Burns," Naruto answered shortly. He didn't want to think about it, because thinking about it led to thinking about _why_ he was being chased in the first place and that wasn't very pleasant. He wanted pleasant right now.   
  
"You better get that checked out immediately after we get back to Konoha," Sasuke said sternly. Naruto rolled his eyes.   
  
"Yes, mother."   
  
"Then that's that," the old lady said, interrupting Naruto's and Sasuke's conversation. She stood up and shuffled over to her stove, placing the small bags off seeds on the counter. "I suppose I should warn you about the surplus of demons that have been around here lately."   
  
"We've had the opportunity to meet a couple today on our way here," Kakashi said sourly. "Don't worry, though, they're several miles from your house and won't likely harm you if you offer them a spot of tea, or something."   
  
"Please," the hag cackled. "No demon would be foolish enough to try and approach _me_. You should know that, Kakashi."   
  
"Of course, Obaa-sama, but it still isn't safe here.."   
  
"Nonsense. I've been living here for longer than you could imagine, boy, and have encountered far worse things then a couple of stray demons. I will be perfectly fine." She paused and turned one yellowing eye towards Sasuke and Naruto. "But I must insist that you come back and visit me. I'm nothing but an old lady with only customers to talk to."   
  
Kakashi let out a small sound of surprise, but nodded. He was giving Naruto and Sasuke odd looks.   
  
Abruptly he turned around, swept the bag of ore up, and bowed deeply to the old lady. "Thank you for doing business with us, Obaa-sama." Naruto and Sasuke stood up, taking that as a cue to leave. The old lady merely nodded and inched her way back to her chair, carefully sitting down again.   
  
As they left the house, Naruto threw a glance back over his shoulder at the hag. She was staring at them with a thoughtful expression on her weathered face, and to his shock she smiled at him. Hesitantly, he smiled back as the door swung closed behind her.   
  
*   
  
"Well," Kakashi said as they made their way back to Konoha village. "That was certainly a surprise."   
  
"What was, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked. She was once again holding Nanashi, but this time the little fox was dead asleep and snoring quietly.   
  
"Many people have visited the old lady, but no one has ever been invited to return. Some were even told specifically to never enter her land again. Tamiko-sama is.. quite powerful."   
  
"Her name is Tamiko, then? She reminds me of Hokage-sama," Naruto said thoughtfully, scratching his chin.   
  
"I'm not surprised. They were married for several years."   
  
Naruto fell onto his bum.   
  
"You're _kidding_!"   
  
"Nope. She was always badgering him, but that was to be expected. After all, he took her out of the forest and that was her home."   
  
"So, what happened?" Sakura asked, soaking in all the gossip greedily. Naruto stood up and brushed himself off, looking as if he meant to gracelessly fall on his rear.   
  
"Nothing particularly interesting. They still loved each other, but she couldn't stay in the village. I don't even think they divorced.. just had a long distance relationship, so to speak."   
  
Sakura sighed dreamily and nodded, causing Naruto and Sasuke to look at her with something akin to mild disgust. This, of course, was no surprise, as the two were boys and more focused on becoming great shinobi over locking lips with a girl. Well, Sasuke at least. Naruto still harbored a small crush on the Sakura.   
  
The shortest ninja sighed slightly, but it wasn't because of what they were talking about. His chest was really starting to bother him, itching and burning and..   
  
"..bleeding." Naruto blinked and looked up at Sasuke, who had a frown line between his eyes. "You're bleeding, Naruto."   
  
The blonde looked down and frowned when he saw that, indeed, he was bleeding—right through his bandages, at that.   
  
"..Well, hell."   
  
.end chapter two. 


	3. Akuma

A/N: -rises from the grave all zombie-like- I'm baaaack! 

Warnings: In this chapter there's a pretty graphic scene, but I hesitate to say that it might turn your stomach.

**Byakko**   
Chapter Three: Akuma   
by Clara

Naruto was sitting cross-legged in the center of a pristine, still made bed in the corner of an equally pristine hospital room. He could swear that even the food was sterilized, if he had been thinking about that particular thing. His mind, however, was on the small and worn out book that he had on his lap (actually, it was on top of the sleeping fox cub that was curled up on his lap, but yes).

He found it on his bedside table after he had woken up from the intense healing procedure Tsunade had practically forced upon him. Someone had conveniently marked several pages for him to look through, but he looked past them in favor of flipping through the entire book. It was relatively thin and weather-beaten, but there were times he wondered if he should get a magnifying glass since the words were practically microscopic. And there weren't any pictures. Who ever heard of a book without pictures? Naruto certainly hadn't.

He had to admit, though, that it was awfully interesting. It explained with detail the world inhabited by demons, an almost parallel plane with the world they lived in except for the inhabitants and for their style of living.

Demons were ranked much like the ninja in Konoha. The lowest demons were known as "C" rank demons, and they were the ones that were oftentimes used as servants or game. "B" rank demons were a bit more powerful than common humans and generally made pests of themselves because of their lack of strength. They were the ones who were most well-known for killing humans. "A" rank demons, however, were dangerously powerful and intelligent. They pretty much ruled the demon world and dealt with the politics.

And then there were the "S" rank demons. They were the demons that could destroy both worlds if they wanted to. They were ruthless, powerful, aged and much more intelligent than normal humans could even dream of being. They _understood_.

There weren't many "S" rank demons, the book said, then listed the known ones. At the very beginning, under the two first names, was Ichiro.

The name of the kitsune Koshirou and Kojirou had said.

The name of the kitsune that was trapped in Naruto's body.

Of course, the page had been marked by whoever had left him the book and the name underlined. Naruto frowned at it for several minutes, then turned the page. He was hoping to find more information about the kitsune, but the book continued describing demon lifestyles. He skimmed over it, uninterested with their hunting habits and eating habits, but made a note to look back on their fighting habits.

What really caught his eye was the slave trade. The demons were notorious for catching creatures (humans, fey, and demons alike) they thought were beautiful and selling them to the upper class demons. The over all thought in the demon world was that the more slaves one owned the more high-ranked one would be. Naruto frowned more as the book went on to explain the inhumane way the slaves were treated, depending on how beautiful or skilled they were.

He wondered, briefly, if the kyubi had any slaves. The kyubi seemed to be above ranks—would it have needed a slave?

"I see you found the book I left for you."

Naruto looked up, the frown straightening out and curving to a smaller version of his usual grin. Sasuke was leaning against the doorframe, smirking slightly.

"Bleeding stop yet?"

"Yeah," Naruto closed the book after carefully dog-earring the page he was on. "This is yours?"

Sasuke nodded and walked further into the room, dragging a chair up to the blonde's bed. Disturbed from his slumber by the chair scraping against the ground, Nanashi opened his eyes to give Sasuke his normal dirty look for a greeting. The Uchiha ignored it, as usual. "Sakura and Kakashi each already own a copy, but somehow I figured you didn't."

"I've never seen the point to reading," Naruto said defensively. "Why should I? You can read all you want on how to ride a bike, but you can never really _learn_ how to until you actually try it."

"Of course not," Sasuke agreed, momentarily surprising Naruto. The dark eyed boy gave his rare smile and rested his chin on his palm, leaning forward slightly. "But reading does sometimes come in handy. It's always best to know your enemy."

Naruto frowned, unable to come up with a good argument for that. He opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again to sigh. "Can I leave here yet?"

It is, of course, to be expected that Naruto was more than a little squirmy. He _hated_ being confined in closed places for so long (which oftentimes resulted in him sleeping on his roof).

"They said two more days."

"Two days! Two days! Why on earth would I need to be here for two more days?!" He shoved the blankets off his legs and leapt off the bed, only to sit back down as all the blood rushed from his head. He closed his eyes and scowled.

"Because of the poison, idiot," Sasuke admonished, gently shoving him back down on the bed. He met little resistance, and that worried him slightly. "It's only two days."

"Do we have any missions?" Naruto asked helplessly. The last thing he would want was to be stuck in a dinky hospital room while Sasuke was completing dozens of missions on his own. For a moment he pictured the black haired genin running around smugly with dozens of awards (that didn't even exist) hanging from his neck. He scowled.

"We have one tomorrow, but it's just a C rank one. Nothing to worry about."

Naruto sunk back down against the pillows. How many times had he heard that before? 'It's only a C rank mission, it'll be simple'. It _always_ started out like that and trouble _always_ ended up following them.

"I should be fine by then," Naruto said in all honesty. "You know me, I heal quickly."

"You do," Sasuke agreed. He stood up, peeked outside the hospital room back and forth, then turned back to Naruto and grinned a surprisingly crooked grin. "Get up."

Naruto blinked in confusion. "Wh...what?"

"I'm breaking you out."

The blonde stared at Sasuke with blatant disbelief. _What on earth..?_ Ever so slowly, a cunning grin spread across his lips. He didn't know where this mischief-making Sasuke was coming from, but damned if he wasn't going to take advantage of it.

---

Thirty minutes later the nurse started her rounds. She dreaded the first room she was to go to—it, after all, contained the demon child. Who knew if he was going to go postal or not and kill everyone in sight?

Sighing, she squared her shoulders and pushed into the room.

To her complete and utter surprise it was empty.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me."

---

"I had a feeling you would help him sneak out."

Both boys froze guiltily, slowly turning around to face the frowning Iruka. He was sitting at the front step of Naruto's house, knees drawn up and chin resting on palm. He stood when the two boys noticed him, doing his best to look imposing by towering over them both.

"I should have known better than to leave you two together alone." The older chûnin shook his head, folding his arms across his chest. "What I can't figure out is how you managed to talk Sasuke into it, Naruto..."

Naruto opened his mouth to protest vehemently and was quite surprised when Sasuke beat him to it, smiling sheepishly.

"Sorry, Iruka-sensei. It was actually my idea."

Iruka blinked in obvious surprise, then looked at both boys shrewdly. "Ah. I see. Naruto's starting to wear off on you. Well, don't go pulling that ridiculous Sexy no Jutsu technique or anything." He frowned, suddenly. "Naruto, you should _not_ be up and about, yet!"

"I'm _fine_," Naruto insisted, scrunching his eyes shut and pouting. Nanashi squirmed out of the blonde's arms and scrambled on top of his head, giving Iruka a look identical to Naruto's. The result was a demented looking totem pole, and this caused Iruka to chuckle and Sasuke to turn and hide an amused smile. "Besides, hospitals are _expensive_. I'll be much better off at home."

The laughter died from Iruka's throat and he frowned. There they were—all three of them orphaned at a very young age and struggling to survive on their own. He knew what Naruto was talking about when he said 'too expensive'; none of them had the luxury of having a parent to take care of things like medical bills, and lords knew insurance was ridiculously overpriced.

"Well," Iruka finally said, after a long moment of observing the two. "I'll be sure to let the hospital know." He smiled again. "And don't worry about the bill; I'll have them send it to my place. After all, I _am_ the one with the income coming in..."

"I-Iruka-sensei..."

"Don't worry about it, kid. I'll just expect you to pay me back after you become an excellent ninja."

"What are you talking about?!" Naruto asked, the surprise fading away to mock-offense. "I _am_ an excellent ninja!"

"All right, all right," Iruka agreed, laughing. "A _well paid_ excellent ninja."

"_That_ I am not." The blonde looked as if he wanted to thank his old teacher profusely but didn't know how, so just opted in giving the older man a tight hug. Before Iruka could respond, Naruto had Sasuke by the arm and was running as if hell were at his heels.

"Where the hell is he?!"

And from the sound of the angry nurse in the hospital, hell might as well _have_ been at his heels.

---

"Are you going to head home?"

"It would be pointless. My house isn't exactly close, and I don't want to walk back. I'll sleep on your couch."

Leave it to Sasuke to be absolutely curt and rational about inviting himself over to his main rival's house. Naruto snorted and blew his bangs from his forehead, shifting Nanashi into one hand to search for his keys.

"Whatever. Just as long as you pick up after yourself." He frowned, fishing further into his pocket. Where _was_ his keys? Normally, he had them in his pocket...

"Something the matter?" Nanashi nudged his side, seeming to notice his unease.

"Yeah. I lost my keys. No biggy, though, I have a spare in the back." Without waiting for Sasuke or even bothering to offer him an explanation in human tongue (talking to Nanashi meant, of course, that Sasuke had no idea what the blonde was saying), Naruto darted to the back of his house.

"Oi, stupid, what're you doing?" Sasuke called after, baffled. He immediately shot after Naruto, half-convinced that the kyubi would lock him out or something equally as cruel.

"I can't find my keys," Naruto offered as an explanation, heading straight for a large pot that had a plastic tree nestled in it. Naruto dug into the multi-colored pebbles for a moment, before he triumphantly smirked and pulled out the spare key. A moment later he was racing back to the front door, leaving Sasuke to chase after him again, and to wonder, briefly, just why Naruto was always in such a _hurry_ to get _everywhere_.

A moment later they were standing in the middle of a disaster zone.

"Er," Naruto said nervously, scratching the back of his head, "sorry about the mess. I don't have many visitors, right?" He coughed apologetically and darted around a mess of playing cards and scrolls and books, apparently heading towards his bedroom. "I'm going to change real quick. Grab something to drink."

Sasuke rolled his eyes in affirmation and strolled into the kitchen. The first thing that assaulted him was the sickly-sweet stench of decaying meat, and the dark haired boy scrunched up his nose. Had Naruto forgotten about some pot-roast or something? He couldn't see it anywhere, however—perhaps he had left it in the oven.

The next thing he noticed was a fly.

It was a large fly, at least the size of a coin. The insect was lazily crawling across the back of one of Naruto's chairs, once in awhile shaking out its wings. Sasuke pulled a disgusted face. Insects didn't bother him, but even he had to admit turbo-flies were pretty disgusting. He strolled over to it and swatted it away, making a mental note to order Naruto to clean up at least once a week. This was just getting gross.

Something was bothering him, though, and he found himself being drawn closer to the table. His mind was working—past lessons were whirling around in his head, categorizing the kind of fly that he had seen on the chair. _Blood-fly,_ his mind whispered mechanically, _insects that are attracted to the blood of fresh deaths in order to lay their eggs in the corpses._

Why would a blood-fly be interested in pot-roast?

"Oi, Sasuke! I cleaned up a bit. How long does it take you to get something to drink?!"

But Sasuke was ignoring Naruto now. He had discovered the source of the smell and the reason for the fly, and he was immobilized with shock.

"Sasuke? Oi, Sasuke!" Naruto's voice was closer now, and there was a hint of confusion in his tone. "What the hell is that smell?"

There was a gasp as Naruto fell in step beside Sasuke, and a startled yip from the fox cub that was still snuggled close to Naruto's chest, despite the wounds. If Sasuke had the ability to understand the kit, he would have been surprised at the startled,

"...Father!"

---

Neither Sasuke nor Naruto wanted to stay inside the house after the discovery of the several day old fox corpse in Naruto's kitchen. They had buried it next to the Nanashi's mother and had cleaned the kitchen as well as they could, but it seemed the smell and the sheer _presence_ of the person or demon that had left the dead fox seemed to hang in the air, despite all the windows they opened. They silently agreed to camp out on the roof for the time being, at least until the smell had left the house.

"Do you think it was the same person?" Naruto asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

Sasuke frowned and curled his arms around his legs, offering a one armed shrug. "Not sure," he admitted, ruefully. "But I don't think you should stay here any longer, Naruto. It's obvious whoever left the fox is the same one who has your keys."

"It wouldn't matter." Naruto pulled the kit closer to himself, Nanashi uncharacteristically silent. "Even if he didn't have a key, he could have gotten into my house anyway. A well placed kick to the door, a rock to the window—it's not that hard." His matter-of-fact voice belied his experience.

"I think it would be better," Sasuke insisted. "These aren't just your usual hate-crimes, Naruto. Someone is _really_ out to get you."

Naruto seemed disinterested.

"Damnit!" The conviction in Sasuke's voice caused Naruto to jump slightly. "I'm going to call Iruka and—"

"I can't keep running."

It was Naruto's quiet tone that caused Sasuke to falter.

"No matter where I go...it's not like I'm gonna be able to hide for long. It's like—like they know where I'm going even before _I_ do. The first fox was at the school yard..." He looked confused for a moment. "I hadn't _planned_ to go to the swing, I just went, and there it was. I didn't go up to anyone and be like, 'hey, I'm going to the old school now! I'll be there at 14:32 sharp'.

"And then the forest!" Naruto continued, not even looking to see if Sasuke was paying attention. He was getting worked up now. "Sure, people knew we were goin' on this mission, but there're a _lot_ of ways to get to Tamiko's house. How did Hoshirou and Hojirou know the trail we'd use?

"Then the kitchen. I mean, it's like a normal place, but it's really not. How could've this person known that I didn't die from those two jokers? Not only that, but wouldn't they think that I woulda gone to someone else's house to hide for a bit? Why did they come straight back to my place? We're not dealing with some stupid power-hungry bad guy this time. This person is _playing_ with me."

There was a pregnant silence where Sasuke stared at Naruto in disbelief. Was this the boy who—

"Yeah, well, damn the man!"

—never gave up?

Well, that was—

"There ain't no way in hell he's gonna beat _me_. Not the super cool, future hokage of Konoha! I'll make him eat dirt so hard he wouldn't need to _buy_ a rock to exfoliate!"

—more like it.

Sasuke blinked in surprise. "Do you even know what exfoliate _means_?"

"Sure! Sakura was ranting about it to Ino this one time...I mean, not that I was listening in on their _conversation_ or anything..."

Sasuke shook his head and let his mind wander back to what Naruto had said about the chance occurrences. It seemed too logical for the kyubi to deduct on his own, but Naruto appeared to have considered the situation carefully. Of course Sasuke had already drawn the same conclusions previously, albeit a bit more eloquently. The difference was Naruto hadn't seen the holes in this explanation. Perhaps the man had planted dead foxes in other places for Naruto to stumble upon, and it was luck that brought Naruto across those three. It was possible the man _didn't_ know where to put them, and was just making educated guesses from information he may have picked up idly.

But the thoughts seemed too morbid to bring up, especially now that Naruto had finally relaxed a bit. The blonde was trying to empathetically convince the bored Nanashi with wild hand motions and excited words.

"No matter," Sasuke said gruffly, interrupting a rather over the top adventure that Naruto was promising Nanashi he would have. "They may _expect_ you to be with someone, but it'll be stupid for you to be alone."

"I can handle myse—"

"I don't care." Sasuke's tone was flat and unyielding. "We may not be able to avoid them, but we don't have to be _stupid_ about it. If these people and creatures can get into _Konoha_, then they're not a group to be trifled with."

"You think there's more?" Naruto furrowed his eyebrows in concentration.

"There could be. We can't dismiss that theory. In fact—"

Naruto interrupted him, quietly. "I—" I what? I don't need you to baby-sit me? I can handle myself? "—I'm scared."

Neither of them expected that, so it was followed by an uneasy silence. Admitting something so personal to someone was implying that you trusted that person, and to both boys that was surprising. It overstepped the boundaries of the tentative truce they set up as a result of the current situation and entailed that their friendship was strengthening.

Both had too much pride to accept that.

"You should go to bed," Sasuke managed, roughly. "You're starting to look like a drowned fish."

"Stupid. How's a fish supposed to drown?" But there was no animosity behind Naruto's words, mainly because they were said around a large yawn.

"If they swim backwards, they would."

Now Naruto looked even more puzzled. "You're weird, you know that?"

"Probably the only reason why I can deal with you," Sasuke retorted and grabbed Nanashi, to the surprise of both Naruto and the fox kit. Nanashi retaliated by latching onto his hand by way of his mouth, but Sasuke didn't protest. After all, the reason he had grabbed the fox cub was to jar the surprisingly intelligent ball of fluff back to reality. "Has this damn thing gotten its shots yet? Hell, it might have rabies!"

At that, Sasuke jumped off the roof.

"He does _not_ have rabies!" Naruto shouted back, his annoyance spurring him to follow Sasuke. He landed a little less gracefully, but managed not to hurt himself even more. "And come back here! He's mine!"

Nanashi yipped helplessly at Naruto, obviously not liking having Sasuke tote him around. It was interesting the way Naruto yipped reassuringly back, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Sasuke chuckled and raced into the house, figuring the easiest way to get Naruto back into his bed was trick him there. It was also a good way to distract Naruto from his problems and entertain Sasuke—was Naruto _howling_?

Oh, well. As long as Naruto was enjoying himself.

The distraction worked too well, however. It would be hours before Naruto and Sasuke realized that they weren't alone.

.end chapter three.

A/N: Ah...I know this took me forever to put out, and I'm sorry. I realize this chapter is much more serious than the first two chapters, and I apologize for that. I promise there'll be light-hearted goodness smattered throughout the other chapters, but in order to get on with the plot I had to serious it up a bit. Sorry if that's a disappointment.

Another thing is, and I'm not sure if I mentioned this in the other chapters, but the characters are supposed to be a bit older than they are in the series. And I'm pretty sure, like most of the ongoing stories that started before the plot in Naruto took its turn, that this has become an AU. Since I don't like to think like that, I'll just dub it a TWT (which is a Timeline? What Timeline? type of fic.).

I just don't like the way is about uploading right now.  Taking away my asterisks.  Anyway, I reuploaded this chapter because I realized my scene change was in the wrong area, and I don't like how that looked.  Scene changes are now '---'s instead of asterisks, because is a butt.

One last thing—now that I've finally got past my writers block (can you believe that? I haven't written in this story for so long because of _writer's block_), the chapters, SHOULD be coming in a little more fluidly. Sorry for the wait, and I hope you people don't stop reading the fic because of the lengthy time between chapters. It shouldn't be like that again.

**Thank you to Zoe for all her help.**


	4. Kaijuu

A/N: To answer some reviews, I have no intention of making this story a romance of any kind, yaoi and het a like. There will, however, be strong ties of friendship between several characters, and if _that_ makes you uncomfortable, then you have my apologies. 

I've also had a couple of reviews telling me that Byakko means white tiger. This is true. It does. I don't deny this. But Byakko _also_ means a spiritual white fox, and it is known to bring good fortune. It's said these white foxes are sent by Inari, the goddess of foxes, as a messenger. So I'm not crazy.

---

"Once upon a time there was this amazing fox-lord."

"Fox-lord?"

"Yeah. Fox-lord. He was quite the stud, too. Awesome blonde hair. Really cool blue eyes. Excellent sense of fashion. He had a thing for orange, see, 'cause it's the best color in the world."

"This is starting to sound familiar..."

"Quit interrupting! _Anyway_, this awesome, really cool, excellent fox-lord ruled the _entire_ world."

"Isn't that exaggerating, Naruto?"

"I said quit!"

The two boys were lying side by side on Naruto's futon, Nanashi curled between them. Both were in identical poses of relaxation, their hands folded behind their heads and their eyes glued to the ceiling. If anything, they were more alert than they ever had been in their lives.

"So this fox-lord, well, everyone respected him, and everyone adored him, and every girl wanted to get married to him."

"Wishful thinking, Uzumaki?"

"Shut _up_, will you?"

One could tell how tense they were by the sound of their voices; it was late at night and they should have been quiet and reserved, but instead they were loud and boisterous. It seemed they wanted to fill the emptiness with their voices. Naruto's fingers were erratically brushing against the top of Nanashi's head, seeming to draw comfort from the most helpless one there.

"It was pretty obvious that there were other people jealous of the fox-lord, y'know? But what could he do about it? He was just too cool to worry about what other's thought, even the Lord of a neighboring kingdom, the Fan-Head."

"_Fan_-Head?"

"Pretty apt description, huh?"

"I'm going to kill you, Naruto."

Naruto continued on, undaunted. His eyes were darting around, however, taking in every shadow and every object.

"One day, Lord Fan-Head went to visit the fox-lord, with a lot of really fancy gifts. The fox-lord, he said...he said..."

"What did he say?"

"...thank you."

**Byakko**  
Chapter Four: Kaijuu  
by Clara

Two a.m. rolled by and Naruto jerked into a sitting position. The uneasy feeling that had kept him and Sasuke up most of the night heightened to a ten fold, destroying the blonde's already tentative hold on sleep. Careful not to wake Sasuke or Nanashi, Naruto rolled onto all fours and pushed himself to his feet.

There was someone in his house.

"Oi," Sasuke hissed, startling Naruto. He had been _sure_ that his friend was asleep. "Don't move."

Usually Naruto would have sprung forward in response to the command, but for some reason he was rooted to the spot. It was as if someone tied two hundred tons of lead to the bottom of his feet, and if he tried to move, he would fall on his face. Instead, he trained his eyes across the small room, hands clenched to his sides in shaking fists.

He was terrified.

He was _excited_.

"He's in the kitchen." Sasuke's eyes were illuminated by the pale moonlight, glowing an eerie sort of red.

_Blood..._

Naruto bit his lower lip, staring at the wall that separated his room from the kitchen. The man was there, his chakra cloaked with something akin to a sheer veil.

Naruto almost scoffed.

"_This_ is the man who was stalking me?" he hissed at Sasuke, obviously offended. Not only was the man terrible at hiding his presence, but he didn't have much of a presence to speak of. "They couldn't spare anyone better?"

"There could be more. He could be a ploy to lure you into the open."

Naruto hadn't thought of that. His stomach tightened, and he grinned.

"Well, might as well give them what they want, huh?" He said, taking a step towards the kitchen.

"I was thinking the same thing," Sasuke said, interrupting Naruto. The blonde paused, then blinked at the evil little smile that just barely curled the corners of the Uchiha's lips. "Except, I have a plan."

---

Naruto walked into the kitchen.

Actually, he strolled into his kitchen, hands behind his head and sleeping cap cocked jauntily to the side. His pajamas were wrinkled from sleep, and there were lines on one side of his face. He looked casual, comfortable, as if he was just a normal boy getting a midnight snack.

Completely disregarding the huge man standing right smack in the middle of his linoleum floor.

Naruto opened his refrigerator, pulling out a carton of orange juice and carelessly glanced over the expiration date. "Hm. I give it two more days before it goes bad." He startled, suddenly, as if he just noticed the monstrous man that was only a few feet from him. "Oh, I'm sorry. Would you like something to drink?"

The man quirked an eyebrow, bemused. "_This_ is who I'm supposed to catch?" He sneered. "And they thought I couldn't do it."

"No?" It was like Naruto completely ignored everything the man said. Which he did. He shrugged and pulled the tab, drinking straight from the carton. "Something to eat, then?"

"Skip the pleasantries, kid," the man sneered, straightening.

Naruto let out a low whistle, reclining against the refrigerator. "Wow, you really _are_ big. Ugly, too. Kinda stinky. I've got some deodorant, if you want. Does a great job of hiding the fact that you haven't showered for the past couple of days..."

A huge, gorilla like hand darted forward and grabbed Naruto by the collar. Surprised, the boy dropped the orange juice. It exploded against his floor. "Be quiet, kid." The man grinned, evilly.

Naruto walked into the kitchen.

Actually, he _sauntered_ in, looking as if he ruled the world. He had his sleeping cap in one hand, and was flipping a coin with the other. His nightwear was completely smooth, as if he hadn't slept at all.

The man stared at him. He looked back at the other Naruto, some of his confidence leaking away into confusion. The Naruto pinned against the refrigerator was checking his nails.

The new Naruto spun a chair around and sat casually on it, leaning his arms against the top of the back rest. "Hi!" he greeted cheerfully. "Would you like something to drink?"

"Twins?" the man asked, quickly masking his bewilderment. He grinned widely, revealing a mouthful of pointy teeth. "No matter, I'll just crush you _both_."

The first Naruto raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth to say something that was undoubtedly cocky, but a glance at the new Naruto froze the words in his mouth. Instead, he widened his eyes in innocence and said nothing.

Still holding the first Naruto in one massive hand, the man advanced towards the new Naruto.

Naruto walked into the kitchen.

Actually, it was a sluggish sort of movement. His pajamas were a disaster, as if he had been tossing and turning the entire night, and his sleeping cap was drooping dangerously towards his already half closed eyes. He yawned widely, stretching his arms way above his head.

The man halted in midstep.

"Hi," this Naruto managed around the yawn. He scratched his stomach groggily. "Would you like something to drink?"

The first Naruto was still picking at his nails. The second was scuffing boredly at the ground with his bare feet.

"...Three of you?" The man was starting to sound slightly nervous, despite his massive size and his incredible amount of hair, on both his head and his body. He certainly _did_ resemble a gorilla with dreadlocks.

It seemed as if the man didn't know which way to go now, and was still in his bemusement.

"Well, if _you're_ not thirsty, would you mind if _I_ got something to drink? I wonder if I've still got anything caffeinated..."

"I checked," the first Naruto said, glancing up from his nails. "We've still got a can of fizzy."

"Oh, good."

"You little brat!" The confusion was replaced by annoyance, then sloppy anger, and the man lunged towards the third Naruto, still holding the first.

Naruto walked into the kitchen.

Actually, he _stomped_ into the kitchen. His pajamas were a mess, as if he had just gotten into a rough sort of fight, and his eyes were narrowed dangerously. There was a dark sort of energy throbbing around him, the kind of energy you might find on a cat if you accidentally stepped on its tail.

"Hi," this Naruto growled out. His lips were pulled back in a dangerous, soundless snarl. "Would you like something to drink?"

The man jumped and released the first Naruto, staggering back a couple of steps. It was the combination of several emotions that sent him cowering; the annoyance, the confusion, the determination, the confidence—but most of all, the sudden _fear_ of the new Naruto, hell, of _all_ the Narutos.

Was _this_ what they were warning him about?

Was _this_ the great kyubi?

All the emotions balled together, becoming one massive lump of doubt somewhere in his solar plexus. He looked at each Naruto quickly, just long enough to take in all their appearances, eyes only lingering on the newest Naruto, the one that had the pulsing, undulating _energy_ sliding across his skin.

The Narutos were surrounding him now, all smiling identically. No, they couldn't be siblings, the man realized, they were all the _same_. Carbon copies of one another.

"Get...get away from me!" the man yelped, stumbling further back. He was so intent on the Naruto's before him that he _completely_ missed Sasuke, who had been behind him all along. The black haired boy brought his fists heavily down on the man's head, quickly and totally knocking him out.

All the Naruto's disappeared, save the first one. He straightened his cap and grinned.

"You were right. That _was_ fun."

---

When the man came to, he couldn't move. He was sitting on the chair previously occupied by one of the Narutos, bound securely with a very thin string around his neck, his upper torso, his wrists, his stomach, and his ankles. Did they think they could keep him there with just a _string_?

"Don't move," Sasuke said, quietly. He was sitting on a chair across from the man, feet a shoulder width apart and elbows resting on his knees. The man froze. "If you move, the string will slice you into many different pieces. I filled it with charka, you see. If you so much as _inhale_ too deeply, you will be breathing out of your throat."

Immediately, the man froze.

"What is your name?"

"...Kaijuu." Kaijuu fixated what he hoped was a piercing glare on the teenaged brat. It would have sent any other man quailing, but Sasuke didn't even bat an eyelash.

"Who sent you?"

Kaijuu pursed his lips together.

"Oi, Sasuke, maybe we should call Kakashi-sensei or Iruka-sensei to deal with this..." Naruto, previously unseen by Kaijuu, shifted from foot to foot. He didn't seem comfortable with the whole interrogation process.

To Kaijuu's relief, however, there was only one of him. He grinned inwardly—the kid seemed soft hearted. Maybe he could con the brat into letting him go.

"After all, Kakashi knows _tons_ more about torturing than either of us do, and I'm _tired_."

Maybe he would be safer with the one called Sasuke.

"Maybe you're right," Sasuke admitted, giving Kaijuu a cursory glance. The calculating gleam hadn't left his eyes, though. "I'll go call them. See if you can get more answers out of him." The black haired boy stood and made his way to the living room, leaving Kaijuu and Naruto alone.

Kaijuu gulped and Naruto pushed himself towards the large man. He was smiling.

"Kaijuu, was it?" He sniffed the air around him, momentarily looking like a dog.

Or a fox.

"I was right. You _do_ stink." The grin widened. "It's a familiar smell, I think. Smelled it before on a couple of foxes."

Kaijuu exhaled heavily, breaking out in a sweat on the back of his neck. That energy he felt around the angry version of Naruto was dusting the skin of this Naruto, barely leashed.

Naruto circled around the broad man, observing him like a piece of art. He reached over and dusted Kaijuu's shoulder, letting out an amused sound at the way the huge man tensed up.

"You're really dirty. Not just normal dirty, though. Were you rolling around in my garden?"

Kaijuu glared and said nothing.

"No, I know what you did." The blonde's eyes lit up in an epiphany. "You _buried_ yourself in my backyard. Cunning. I did that once. Learned it from a friend. I'm going to kill you."

It was such an abrupt change of topics that the man nearly fell backwards. There was an irrational sort of fury that filled Naruto's eyes, and his lips pulled back into an angry scowl. He looked like an _extremely_ pissed off fox.

"You killed my friend's parents. You _taunted_ me with their corpses. I'm going to kill you. I'm going to _kill_ you!"

"Not yet." Sasuke placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder, startling the blonde out of his blinding fury. Naruto subsided, but the blue to his eyes were still nearly black.

"_He_ was the one who killed all the foxes, Sasuke!"

"I realize, stupid, but it's obvious someone employed him."

"How do you figure?"

"There's no way an idiot like him could summon Hoshirou and Hojirou and somehow _convince_ them to follow his orders. He doesn't have enough chakra for them to even glance at him."

"So there's someone _else_ killing the foxes?"

"We have more important things to worry about than the foxes, Naruto."

"But they're my _friends_!"

Sasuke sighed and raked his fingers through his hair. He sometimes wondered if the idiot had _any_ sense of self-preservation whatsoever.

He was saved from having to answer, however, by a knock on Naruto's door and a face at the kitchen window. Naruto scurried to the door, flung it open, and was immediately attacked by a worried Iruka.

"Are you okay?! Gods, Naruto, you are in _no_ position to fight. I _knew_ I should have just had you stay at my place?"

"Calm down, Iruka-sensei! I didn't even fight! I just psychotically toyed with him."

"Psychologically," Sasuke corrected and opened the window, stepping aside to allow Kakashi in. The silver haired man glanced over the kitchen, eye coming to rest on Kaijuu.

"And _how_ did you do that?"

As Naruto explained the situation to his old teacher, Kakashi swaggered towards Kaijuu. He put his hands behind his back and leaned forward, tilting his head just so. Kaijuu tried not to shift, obviously not wanting to get his head sliced off.

"He's not much."

The burly man stiffened. "Look who's talking, twiggy," he spat back, offended.

"I'm not surprised you two took him down so easily, truthfully. I doubt you even needed to trick him, Sasuke, you could have easily taken him down by yourself."

"Hey!" Naruto yelped, interrupting his story. Iruka's eyes were faintly wider than they were before. "What about me?"

"_You_," Kakashi said, not even looking at him, "are not supposed to be fighting, anyway."

Naruto pouted and turned back to Iruka, continuing his story. The teacher continued to stare at him, nonplussed.

"What has he told you so far?" Kakashi asked, turning to Sasuke.

"That his name is Kaijuu. That's it."

"Unsurprising." Kakashi sighed and focused his attention back to Kaijuu. He pulled the cloth that covered his eye down, studying the ape man with his sharingan. "It looks as if...hm."

"What?"

"He has his own chakra, but I can feel someone else's chakra in him. It's almost as if..."

"That's right." The mere fact that Kaijuu spoke caused every character in the room to turn and look at him in varying degrees of surprise. His tone was resigned, and he was smiling slightly. "No matter what you do, she _will_ get him."

He didn't slump forward because he couldn't, but the life leaked from the corner of his eyes in the form of bloody tears. Blood seeped into the threads of his shirt, starting from a little left on the center of his chest and spreading outward.

"_Shit_!" Naruto yelped, and instinctively Iruka smacked the back of his head. "Ow!"

"What the hell happened?!" Sasuke looked as appalled as Naruto, but in his own way. "Was that a—"

"Is he dead?!" Naruto lunged forward and grabbed Kaijuu's shoulders, careful not to shake him. He didn't want the man's limbs on his kitchen floor. "Wake up! Wake up, you stupid asshole or I'll kill you!"

"He's dead." Kakashi carefully pulled Naruto from the man, holding him in place by firm grips on his shoulder. "There was a chakra shell around his heart, left by the woman who sent him."

"A shell?" Iruka repeated, frowning. "For security or punishment?"

"I believe both."

"Wait, wait, wait," Naruto growled, struggling from Kakashi's grip. "That's all fine and well, but what are you _talking_ about?"

It was Sasuke who answered him. "Kaijuu failed. In the demon world, if you can't even take down a mere human, then there's no point in coming back. Demons usually wrap a chakra shell around their minion's heart to ensure that if they fail, they won't come back, and they won't be able to reveal anything about their master."

"Whatever, I still don't get it! How did it work? He didn't say anything about his master!"

"Actually, he did," Sasuke continued. "A number of things, actually. The first two things—he let it slip that the person that is after you is not only a female, but it also a demon. Only a demon would be able to encase a heart like that. Another thing is, it was obvious he was working under someone willingly—the only way a demon can put a shell around someone's heart is if that person allows he or she to."

"How the hell do you know all this?" Naruto asked, bemused.

"It was in that book I lent you, stupid. Haven't you read any of it?"

"Don't call me stupid!"

Iruka frowned pensively and grabbed one of Naruto's dish towels, crouching down to clean up the orange juice. "How did he get into the house? I didn't see any broken windows, and your doors looked fine..."

Naruto coughed. "I...er, well, I think he had my keys..."

"He _WHAT_?!"

Kakashi and Sasuke grimaced, and Naruto looked sheepish. Then rather like nothing, since Iruka threw the towel on his face.

"You let him get your keys?!" Iruka grabbed Naruto by the shoulders.

"I didn't let him!" Naruto growled back, snapping the towel from his face. "They were _stolen_ from me!"

"How can you call yourself a ninja if you let your _keys_ get stolen from you?!"

The other two turned to each other, obviously tuning them out. Kakashi disinterestedly checked Kaijuu's body for any leads, but came up with nothing.

"We can only assume that whoever is after Naruto still has his keys," Kakashi said, interrupting the promising looking squabble between ex-student and teacher. "I'll have a chakra specialist look over this body, in case there are any shell remnants. If we're lucky, we'll be able to locate her with the chakra. If not..."

"Then it's back to stage one," Naruto finished, sighing.

---

Outside, a cricket chirped.

It was stepped on by a red shoe.

.end chapter four.

A/N: I made a site. :D  
Go there (it's on my profile, links don't seem to work on this thing anymore) and toot my horn.  
P.S. If you want to submit fics or have your fics hosted on a page, e-mail me.


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